


Working Together

by ami_ven



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Community: writerverse, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-15
Updated: 2014-09-15
Packaged: 2018-02-17 11:58:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2308889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ami_ven/pseuds/ami_ven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“This isn’t…plugged in, is it?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Working Together

**Author's Note:**

> written for LJ community "writerverse" prompts "oh, it's you" & "come with me" (bonus for writing in a fandom)

“Oh, it’s you,” said Rodney, when John walked into the otherwise-empty lab. “Come here and hold this plate down for me.”

Coming from anyone else, John thought, crouching beside Rodney in front of the open Ancient device, that would probably be an insult. But Rodney, for all his big talk and bluster, was horribly self-conscious. He put up a sarcasm-and-technobabble shield when other people were around, so for him to be so distracted with John, to not move when John crowded in close, to not worry about making whatever he was doing sound important and impressive… that was somewhere just below an outright declaration of love.

John slid his hand into the device, pushing down on the loose metal plate. Rodney leaned against him, to get a better angle with his screwdriver, and started loosening it the rest of the way.

“This isn’t… plugged in, is it?” John asked.

Rodney offered him a glare, which was actually a little bit more effective at such close range. But only a little. “Yes, colonel,” he said, sarcastically. “I decided to poke around the insides of a partially-unknown ten-thousand-year-old device while it was _plugged in_.”

“Hey, just checking,” said John, grinning.

Rodney snorted, and grinned back. “Dork,” he said, affectionately. “Now, take that green wire and don’t let it touch the red one.”

“Okay,” John agreed. He shifted to sit on the floor, one knee against Rodney’s hip, and twisted the wire around his fingers, out of the way. “So, what does this thing do?”

“If I knew that, it would already be fixed,” said Rodney. “And what did I just say about those two wires?”

John carefully held the green wire farther away from the red one. “What do you _think_ it does?” he asked, instead.

Rodney pried the metal plate out and handed it to John, who assumed it shouldn’t touch the green wire, either, and took it with his other hand. “Given how ‘careful’ the Ancients were at labeling things… it could be anything. But I’m hoping it’s the molecular re-assembler Radek found in the database.”

“Molecular…” John repeated, then grinned. “A replicator? McKay, are you telling me this thing might be a replicator?”

“ _No_ ,” said Rodney. “I may or may not be a machine that can rearrange molecules into a series of pre-programmed— Yes, all right, it could be a replicator. You’ll finally have an Ancient device that can make you a turkey sandwich.”

“Really?” said John, grinning. 

“How should I know? Now, twist the red and green wires together.”

“You just said not to let them touch!”

“I just said twist them together,” Rodney countered. “Which of us is the genius here? Is it you? I didn’t think so.”

“Hey, I passed the Mensa test,” said John, twisting the two wires carefully together.

“And you never joined, so I am free to ignore that. Okay, Colonel Magic Gene, put both hands flat on the top of this thing, and think _on_.”

“You only love me for my gene,” John pouted. 

He stood, slapped both palms on the top of the device, and thought _on_ , loudly. The machine gave a startling wail, pulsed a bright light, and went dark again.

“What the hell just happened?” said John.

Rodney grabbed his computer. “It… I’m not getting any spikes, any deviations… it didn’t malfunction at all. Now why did it…?”

John shook his head, and reached over to close the lid of Rodney’s laptop. “That can wait until tomorrow, can’t it?”

“Well, I’d like to…” Rodney stopped, grinning. “It can wait.”

“Great!” said John. He offered Rodney a hand, and pulled him to his feet. “Let’s go.”

THE END


End file.
